


A Kaleidoscope of Blue

by notjustmom



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Doctor Strange - Fandom, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gift Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-22 19:21:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30043500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: Based on a prompt from sobeautifullyobsessed, The Cloak of Levitation has nearly given up trying to help find a love match for the Sorcerer Supreme until a raven haired healer from his past returns to Kamar-Taj...
Relationships: Stephen Strange & Wong, Stephen Strange/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Since her creation, her exact age, known only to her maker, and now lost to history, the Cloak of Levitation had served many masters, but none could match her current master’s dedication to his craft, and his stubborn insistence to live without a companion. Mina knew he was quite capable of love, he had proven that on the day he lost both the Ancient One, and the woman Christine, as she still carried the darkness of his heartbreak in her very threads, yet, she still hoped.

Wong knocked once, then twice and finally a third time before entering the Sorcerer Supreme’s private rooms. He sighed as he found his friend fast asleep at his desk, relieved he was finally at rest, after days and nights of nonstop study, but confused by the volumes that surrounded him, numerous field guides to butterflies of Mexico and Latin America. He glanced over at Mina, who was hovering nearby, as if worried for her master.

“Mina. He is working through something, we will give him some time, yes?”

Mina straightened herself, then swiftly draped about the Sorcerer Supreme’s shoulder and wrapped his wrist that bore the shattered watch that he never removed. “I know, Mina, I know, you are the most stubbornly romantic relic I’ve ever met. But you were created to protect your master from physical harm, you have no say over his heart -” He frowned as he saw Mina’s collar droop slightly and he whispered, “Mina, if he is meant to love, love will come, but he must be ready to see it. Come, let him rest, hmmm?”

Stephen slipped through the doors of Kamar-Taj and adjusted the hood he wore on the days when he needed to stroll through the village unrecognized. Today was a rare day when meditation and study left him more exhausted than at peace, and he needed the noise and chaos of the village that reminded him of the New York City he had known from years earlier, when anything was still possible. He was thinking of one particular perfect afternoon in Central Park, long before he had become a surgeon, when he was nearly knocked over by a woman who was equally lost in thought. By instinct, he spoke an ancient word and she froze momentarily before colliding with him, revealing his nature. He caught her in his arms and carefully set her down.

“My apologies.”

“Master Strange.”

He shivered as he recognized the amusement in her voice. “Emma.” She bowed her head in deference, then as she looked up to meet his eyes, she gasped as she saw the physical changes that had taken place since they had last met. Her gaze dropped as she gingerly took his trembling hands in hers and whispered, “Sorcerer Supreme. You must forgive me, I have been away for far too long, I was hoping to find Sanctuary within the walls of Kamar-Taj.”

“Of course, you are always welcome, Em.” His use of her old nickname made her release his hands gently, and she smiled uncertainly at him as she met his all-seeing gaze.

“You have lost so much -”

“As have you, come, allow me to make you some tea?”

“I hope your skills in tea-making have improved since we last met?"

“I should think so,” He murmured, then laughed for the first time in months, and they turned towards the ancient doors of Kamar Taj.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephen placed his stack of books on the librarian’s desk. “Emma has returned.”

“It has been noted.” Wong answered as he examined the books without further comment.

“She asked for sanctuary.”

Wong pushed the books towards his friend with a nod, and crossed his arms.

“I was arrogant once -”

“You have never ceased in your arrogance.”

Stephen sighed and collected the volumes of spells he knew word for word. “Be that as it may, after Dormammu -”

“You are Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen, you owe me no explanations.”

“It matters very much what you think.”

“I am just the librarian, Stephen.”

“And my friend, I hope.”

“Yes, Stephen. She will be made welcome.”

“Thank you, Wong.”

Stephen spotted Emma sitting quietly in his favorite spot in all of Kamar-Taj, on a stone bench under an ancient cherry tree. Of course she had remembered.

_“Stephen, you must close your eyes, you must try to rest.”_

_“I cannot.”_

_“Tell me.”_

_“No. I made the choice on my own, I must deal with the consequences on my own.”_

_“Don’t be ridiculous.” She snapped as she watched him try to hide his quivering hands from her. She sighed and waited until he placed them in her outstretched hands. “We don’t yet know of the consequences of your actions, we may not live long enough to see the repercussions of your choice. You must know you had no other choice but to do what you did, only you could have made the choice. Breathe, Stephen. Now, tell me, do you trust me?”_

_Stephen nodded and met her violet glare with a silver gaze of confusion and pain. “I do trust you, Emma, I do not trust myself, and I am not sure -” his words faded as she whispered, “Close your eyes, Stephen. Let me help you.”_

“Sorcerer Supreme. I must apologize again -” Emma began as she got to her feet.

“No apologies necessary, this was your home once, perhaps it will feel like home once again, and one day, perhaps you will call me Stephen once more? Please sit, I did not mean to interrupt you.”

“Wong.” She spoke quietly as he settled next to her.

“Wong worries, it is what he does.”

“He wants to know why I have returned, I am sure you have your own questions.” She bit her lip and turned away from him. “Thank you. I do admit that your tea is much better, even better than my brew of old.”

He made no comment, and they settled into a gentle, comfortable silence as a light breeze shook the blossoms from the tree, and again, the past revisited.

_“Stephen. Stephen, wake up. Stephen. Dr. Strange.”_

_His eyes popped open and he reached out to study her face with his hands. “Christine. No. Not Christine. Emma. Oh, Emma.”_

_“You are safe, Stephen, you are back in Kamar-Taj.”_

_“Em,” he whispered as he held her face carefully in his hands. “Stay?”_

_“Of course, I’ll stay.”_

His breath caught and he sensed a new tension in the air. “I’m sorry, Steph - Sorcerer Supreme. Perhaps this was a mistake.” She rose from the bench, bowed in his direction before fleeing to the safety of the library. Mina draped herself a little tighter around his shoulders, and felt the sadness of old return.


	3. Chapter 3

“Emma.”

“Wong.” She closed her book, but did not look up at him. “He has aged.”

“It has been ten years since you left us.”

“Since I left him, you mean.”

“Have you ever known me to say anything but what I mean to say?”

Her lips quirked into something close to a grin, then replied. “Same old Wong.” She glanced up and finally meeting his unblinking gaze shook her head. “No. Both of you have been changed, so much. Understandable, of course. Does he regret -” Her unspoken words seemed louder in the silence of the library.

“If he does, he would not speak of it to me.”

“No, I suppose he wouldn’t.” Emma waited, knowing Wong had more to say.

“After your departure-” Wong paused for a moment, then blew out a breath and continued on, whether he wished to or not. She had always had the ability to draw him out, and they both were aware of her power at the moment. “It was weeks before he spoke to anyone, he shut himself up in his rooms. It is none of my business.” 

“Say your piece. You are his friend, yes?”

“He is Sorcerer Supreme, I serve him as well as I can, and I care for his well-being, as he allows. If that makes me his friend -”

A genuine smile flashed across her unusual features for a brief moment before she replied, “You were strong enough to remain by his side, I do believe that makes you a true friend. Much better than I.” She opened her book again, and settled into the depths of her chair to read, in an attempt to disengage from the conversation.

“You are the reason he was able to become the sorcerer he is now. I did try to warn you, upon our return from Hong Kong, that he had faced the blackest of darkness, you were our strongest healer and you took on his pain and nightmares, I was not surprised when you left.”

“I left when I believed he no longer needed me.” Emma mumbled under her breath.

“Sometimes, it is not a question of need, but a question of want, and of trust and companionship, above anything else.”

She closed the book again, and rose from the chair. “Is our bond irrevocably broken, Wong?”

Wong studied her face, and saw what it had cost her to be away from the safety of Kamar-Taj. “No. I know he spent some time looking for you, but soon realized if you wished to be here, you would one day return. He knew this day would come, I think he hoped it would have been before now. You are welcome, Emma. Just remember, he may be one of the most powerful beings in all of the known and unknown universes, but in the end, he is just a human being, whether he acknowledges that himself or not. Perhaps you can remind him of that fact.” He nodded sharply and left her alone with her thoughts.

Emma tossed in her sleep, then brushed at her face, as if pushing her way through a dream when she understood she was needed. “Mina?” She sat up and drew on her cloak. She hurried after the flash of red, until Mina stopped at Stephen’s study, and lightly nudged Emma’s shoulder forward before vanishing down the dark corridor. She drew in a breath then knocked lightly.

“Come.” He looked up from his books as she entered and rolled his eyes. “Mina.”

“Of course, Mina.” She was still drawn to him as she had been since the first day he had staggered through the doors when he was so full of anger for what he had lost. He had been a healer, through sheer determination, study and practice, and he had felt useless when his hands were lost to him. As useless as she felt now. “Headache.”

“I think it is just a result of growing older, it may be time for reading glasses.” She narrowed her eyes at him, then closed the door and moved toward him. “I never could fool you.”

“No, you couldn’t.” But that was then, and she was no longer able to read his thoughts as she once had. She had to find her way through the darkness as she had before, so many years ago.

_“Tea.”_

_She had placed a tray in his room and was about to leave when he turned at the sound of her voice._

_“You have spent some time in New York.”_

_“Yes.”_

_He dropped onto the edge of his bed and picked up the tea with his bandaged hands, but the cup slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground. He bit his lip, but she could hear the flurry of words as if he had spoken them aloud. She moved to stand in front of him and offered him her hand. He shook his head and she spoke quietly as if she were trying to calm a spooked horse. “I’m a healer, like you -”_

_After his extraordinary meeting with the Ancient One, and the long vigil outside the doors of Kamar-Taj, he was too exhausted to enter into a battle of semantics, and her presence seemed to soothe him in ways he couldn’t begin to comprehend, so he laid his hand in hers and closed his eyes as she began to ease the soiled wrappings from his wrist and fingers. “How did you know I am - was a healer?”_

_“You are still a healer and always will be a healer, Dr. Strange, one does not need hands to heal.” She whispered some words over his hands and for the first time since he had opened his eyes after the accident, the pain was almost bearable._

_“How?” He muttered before he could stop himself, then watched as she carefully applied a salve from a bottle, rewrapped his hands, and without another word she picked up the tea cup, and left the room._


	4. Chapter 4

“Emma.” He had helped her into a chair and there was a cup of tea in her hand. She breathed in the familiar scent and was wondering how she had stayed away so long when she looked up to see the gift of a rare, gentle smile.

“Sorcerer Supreme, I -.”

“You are exhausted from your travels, perhaps we may meet for lunch in a couple of days?”

“So very formal we have become,” she chided him, then sipped at the tea and blew out a sigh of relief before she whispered brokenly, “I never thought to sit here again. I don’t -”

“Do you remember when I once asked why you were kind to me, and you said -”

“‘Kindness isn’t something that is earned or deserved, it is the simplest offering of grace one human being can offer another.’” 

“I certainly did not deserve the grace you offered me the day we met, and yet you understood it was precisely what I needed. Kamar-Taj was your home long before I arrived here, and it will always be your home, should you wish it to be.”

She studied his face, and saw the honesty in his words, then finished the tea, always with that bit of honey, but not as bitter as he used to make it, practice makes perfect, she thought to herself as she placed her cup on his desk. “Thank you, Stephen, your kindness is appreciated.” She rose from the chair and nodded to him, then left his study.

Stephen closed his eyes, and was transported to the day he and Wong had returned from Hong Kong. Emma had touched his hands, and had seen everything, felt everything he had experienced. He was still but a novice then, and she a powerful healer, and he could not stop her from taking on the pain that had nearly killed him, had in fact killed him time after time. He sighed as Mina fluttered into his study.

“Do you think she will ever forgive me?” He asked her. She shrugged, and moved closer to him, but somehow, as always, she knew when he needed to be left to himself, but not on his own.

“It isn’t a question of her forgiveness you should be seeking, Stephen, but your own. She forgave you, long ago,” Wong answered from the doorway. “She knew what she was taking on when she took your pain from that time.”

“I didn’t ask it of her.” Stephen stormed back at him, and leaped from his chair.

“No. It was a gift of her love for you, you never quite understood that, because you never felt worthy of her love.” Wong shrugged at him, and murmured, “I’m hungry, I think there are leftovers, from supper if you would like to join me.” He met Stephen’s stormy silence with another shrug and left him to his thoughts.

_“Where is she, Wong?”_

_“Gone.”_

_“What do you mean, gone?”_

_“You saw what I did, her rooms are empty. She is gone from Kamar-Taj.”_

_“Did she leave word with you, a note for me, anything?”_

_“No word, but she left this, she seemed to think you would understand its meaning.” Wong went into his small private office in the library and returned with a glass case that contained a single caterpillar._

_“It’s a caterpillar.”_

_“Morpho menelaus, to be precise.”_

_“Morpho menelaus.”_

_Wong nodded, and resumed his work. Knowing he’d been dismissed, Stephen picked up the glass case and carried it to his study. He spent the next few days in meditation when he wasn’t caring for the small creature in the case, or searching for Emma to no avail._

He blinked at the light of the new day, and rubbed his face. So many regrets, so many missed chances. He glanced over at Mina who would have been crossing her arms at him if it were possible for her to do so. 

“Yes, Mina, I know. I need to get over myself, but first, I need tea.” She fluttered at him and he sighed at her. “Yes, and breakfast, stop fussing.” He grinned at her in spite of himself, and she settled on his shoulders, and nudged him gently out the door in the direction of Emma’s rooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a link to information on the Morpho menelaus, the Blue Morpho butterfly  
> https://bugunderglass.com/blue-morpho-natural-history/#:~:text=Unlike%20adult%20specimens%2C%20blue%20morpho,and%20relatively%20easy%20to%20see.


	5. Chapter 5

Stephen nervously tapped on the door that was slightly open. In the time before, it was an invitation, now, though, he wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t leave her to get settled, or if he should follow his instincts, which were inline with Mina’s impatient twitching and tugging.

“Enter,” came her voice.

He peeked inside the room, and breathed out a sigh of relief. She had unpacked all of her boxes and trunks and was brushing out her hair, which he noted with a start, was just as dark as it had been the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

“Settled, then?” He asked quietly, then bit his lip as he realized how ridiculous he sounded. More the awkward teen he had once been instead of the all-powerful sorcerer he had become.

“I am.” She glanced at his reflection, and as always, she knew everything, he never could hide from her, even now. Her smile reached her glowing violet eyes as she set her brush down and quickly arranged her hair before she turned to face him. “You didn’t sleep.”

“I was on my way to get tea and breakfast so I can attempt to function this morning, I was wondering if you’d like to join me. I know I mentioned lunch, but I thought -”

She took pity on him and offered him her hand, “Breakfast sounds lovely. It’s a beautiful day, perhaps we might walk the grounds afterwards, I’d like to get reacclimated, and I was hoping you wouldn’t mind serving as my guide?”

He felt his face heat up, but he placed his hand into hers as another memory ambushed him. He had made himself forget what it meant when her powers were at full force as they were now.

_“Do you feel safe here, yet?” It had been a full month since his arrival, and he was still mostly hiding in the library or in his room._

_“No.”_

_“Nightmares.”_

_“When I allow myself to fall asleep, the crash plays over and over in slow-motion, and when I wake up, the pain is the same as it was when I woke up that morning and realized my life was over.”_

_“Do you still feel that way?”_

_“I left what little was left of my old life in a last attempt to rescue it.”_

_She waited for him to continue._

_“I know now that life is over. I can’t go back, and I can’t figure out how to get the magic to work yet.”_

_She smiled and sat him down on the bench, then seated herself and reached out one hand towards him. She had changed the bandages for him for the first few days after his arrival, but he had learned how to do it himself so she wouldn’t have to see them. “They are still beautiful, Stephen. Yes, they are scarred, but they are still beautiful. The magic is within you, it always has been, it isn’t a question of figuring it out, it is a question of faith in yourself and your gifts. It will take time for you to find that faith again, but it is there.” He laid his hand in hers and closed his eyes as for the first time, it stopped trembling, and he let out a sob as she lifted her other hand to touch his face._

He sat down on the bench and studied her closely. She had aged as he had over the years, and he hoped one day she would finally trust him enough to tell him her story.

“One day, Stephen, one day when I’m ready.” She sat down next to him, and they breathed in the scent of a perfect spring morning.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma couldn’t help but smile as she studied the books that lined the walls of Stephen’s study, and those that were stacked in tidy piles on every level surface of the room. Yes, there were the required ancient texts in languages nearly dead, saved from extinction only by generations of sorcerers and the students who followed them, but hidden in the corners were collections of poetry: Rumi, Rossetti and a slim volume of verses written in the last days of the Great War. “My copy of Shakespeare, the one I would read to you, when you couldn’t sleep. Lorde, Bishop and Adrienne Rich,” she whispered as she ran her fingers along the spines of the books, a tiny burble of amusement in her voice. “Has the great Stephen Strange become a feminist at last?” She flashed a grin at him, then stilled as she saw the pain in his eyes, she had gone too far.

“I had time to learn. Too many years spent searching for answers in those books you kept trying to get me to read.”

“Some years hold only questions.”

“You always liked your riddles and mysteries, didn’t you, Em?”

She turned away from his searching eyes, and drew in a sharp breath as she noticed the tree of blue butterflies that resided in the dark shadows of the room, illuminated only by the sparkle of their iridescence in the late morning sun that filtered through the windows. “My blue morphos. They found you.”

“They kept coming. Every morning on the anniversary of the day you left and again on my birthday. It didn’t seem possible, they aren’t meant to be here, Emma, and yet -”

“Here they are, as are you. Where you are meant to be, where you were always meant to be, Stephen. There are some things that cannot be explained away. I couldn’t explain it even to myself. I had never questioned what I was to do, what my role was supposed to be in this lifetime, until the day you arrived. I knew you. From a long ago time and place, I still don't know, but you are my other half. There were moments when I felt your thoughts before you even thought them, at first, being your friend and confidant was enough for me. I had my work to do, but then London fell, and New York - if I had been with you in Hong Kong, I could have, I don’t know, I should have found a way to help you, you weren’t ready, you were just beginning to learn of the powers you had. But I was too late, and then you came home broken, and it was my fault…” Her rare blur of words came to a sudden halt as one by one, the butterflies left the tree and encircled them as Stephen took her hands in his and smiled kindly at her confusion, then her slow realization.

“Stephen?”

“You saved me from myself, and then you were gone. I searched for you, but over time I thought if you wanted me to find you -”

“I believed if I left you, I could find my way back to myself, and you would become the sorcerer you were destined to be. But one day, one of my butterflies returned to me, and I knew that my place, my heart belonged here with you. I only hope you will forgive me.”

Stephen shook his head then conjured a delicate bracelet of woven gold and placed it on her wrist. “Will you be my partner in all things, no matter where or when we are called to be, will you stand by my side, Emma until time ends?”

She swore under her breath as she felt the tears begin to slide down her face, but nearly burst into laughter as Mina wiped them away for her. “As you wish,” she whispered, then grinned up at him before kissing him for the first time. 

“Yes, Stephen.”


End file.
